For the second year in a row, Silicon Roundabout has created more new businesses than anywhere else in the UK.
Research by UHY Hacker Young has revealed the area generated 15,620 new businesses in 2013/14 up to March 31st. The area, covered by the EC1V postcode, saw nearly five times as many businesses launched as the Canary Wharf area – though the tech cluster’s total is down slightly from last year’s 15,720 new businesses.
Whilst the Silicon Roundabout saw the largest number of new companies, other London postcodes are growing fast too. Borough, Bankside and Bermondsey, covered by the SE1 postcode, saw a more rapid expansion in new business creation with a 13% increase in new businesses, from 5,190 to 5,850 in the last year. Most of the new companies in this area are also tech companies – a sign that London’s tech scene is growing in areas other than Old Street and Shoreditch.
The research seems to show that Silicon Roundabout might now be too expensive for new companies and that the rising rents in the Silicon Roundabout area are forcing many start-ups to choose areas south of the River Thames, or East London as their first base.
Of the top 20 postcodes, only three were outside of the capital. Notably Hove’s BN3 postcode finished tenth in the UHY Hacker Young research – but again it put this growth down to the coastal city’s proximity to London.
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